Earlier than it was hit by missiles, Polish grain facility was used as shelter for Ukrainians fleeing war9 hours in the past

Bogdan Wos wasn’t going to sit down round his home within the village of Przewodow in japanese Poland and do nothing when Ukrainians started streaming throughout the border in February searching for security from Russia’s invasion.

Mr. Wos, 62, was the sort of man individuals in Przewodow turned to for assist. Neighbours referred to as him the center and soul of the group, the person who greeted everybody with a smile, a heat howdy and sometimes a hug.

So it wasn’t stunning that Mr. Wos led the village’s 500 residents in supporting Ukrainian refugees. His employer, Italy-based Agrocom, agreed to permit the workplace area in its warehouse in Przewodow to function a makeshift shelter and Mr. Wos rapidly stuffed it with refugees.

He labored day and evening ensuring that they had clothes, meals and different necessities. By the point the shelter wound down operations a few months in the past, Mr. Wos had supported greater than 200 Ukrainians and helped many transfer on to different nations.

Then on Tuesday a merciless coincidence shook Przewodow. At the very least one missile, possible fired by Ukraine’s air defence forces, slammed into the Agrocom warehouse at round 4 p.m. The constructing, as soon as a protected haven for Ukrainians fleeing the conflict, was destroyed. Mr. Wos and one other long-time worker, 60-year-old Bogdan Ciupek, have been unloading a truck crammed with corn when the rocket hit. Each died on the spot.

Polish officers have mentioned that the proof to date advised the deaths have been the results of an errant Ukrainian rocket. “There are numerous indications {that a} missile used to shoot down Russian missiles missed its goal, after which the self-destruct system did not work and this, sadly, led to tragedy,” Jakub Kumoch, a international coverage adviser to President Andrzej Duda, instructed Polish tv on Thursday.

Officers in Ukraine have disputed that conclusion. They’ve cited proof the missile was fired by Russian forces and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has mentioned that officers from his nation must be allowed to affix the probe into the strike. In the meantime the Russians have insisted that their navy has not fired any rockets into Poland.

Not one of the finger pointing has supplied a lot comfort for individuals in Przewodow.

Though the village is simply three kilometres from the Ukrainian border, the conflict feels rather a lot nearer now and many individuals worry one other missile strike might occur at any second. In addition they mourn the insanity of conflict, the way it shattered a spot that after supplied hope to so many individuals and killed a person who solely wished to assist.

“For now I don’t know the way we are going to reside with out him,” mentioned Halina Malinowska, 71, who has recognized Mr. Wos for greater than 40 years. “I knew him from 1976 after I began to reside right here.”

She used to volunteer on the shelter and she or he marvelled at Mr. Wos’s dedication to the refugees. She recalled one evening when he dropped every thing and rushed to the border to choose up a Ukrainian mom and her 5 youngsters. “He appeared for Pampers for the children. He did looking for them,” she mentioned. “He was a man with an enormous coronary heart.”

She shook her head on the terrible irony that her buddy might have been killed by a Ukrainian missile. It’s in God’s arms, she mentioned. “He was a boy who helped them a lot, he will need to have needed to die. Apparently that was his future.”

Mr. Wos and his spouse, Jozefa, had deep roots in Przewodow. He spent 22 years working for Agrocom and serving to farmers carry of their crops. Ms. Wos has labored as a janitor on the main college for 20 years and the couple devoted numerous hours volunteering at native occasions, all whereas elevating two sons.

Frederico Viola, a vice-president at Agrocom, mentioned Mr. Wos was among the many first workers the corporate employed when it launched its Polish operation. Mr. Ciupek began a few years later and the pair have been affectionally often called Bogdan 1 and Bogdan 2 by the 23 different workers.

Mr. Viola, who lives in a close-by city, mentioned Mr. Wos touched many lives via his work on the shelter. “Lots of people from Ukraine who lived there have referred to as us to go away condolences for this man as a result of they remembered him so nicely,” Mr. Viola mentioned Thursday. “He was there each day, within the afternoon, within the evening. Once they wanted one thing, he was there.”

Mr. Duda visited the village on Thursday. He met with family of Mr. Wos and Mr. Ciupek, and toured the positioning of the missile strike. Standing alongside a muddy street after the go to, Mr. Duda instructed reporters that Poland doesn’t blame Ukraine for what occurred. “We’re positive and all indicators present this was a horrible and tragic accident,” he mentioned.

When requested what he mentioned to the villagers he met, he replied: “What can I say in such a troublesome scenario?”

In late afternoon, because the solar started to set, Ewa Byra sat in her workplace in Przewodow’s main college and mirrored on Mr. and Ms. Wos. Ms. Byra has been on the college since 1983, first as a trainer after which as principal for the previous 12 years.

The varsity reopened on Thursday for the primary time because the missile strike, and small black ribbons fluttered from the flag poles and home windows. “There’s worry, in fact, and dismay,” Ms. Byra mentioned of the varsity’s response to the blast.

She’s introduced in counsellors for the 71 college students, and she or he and a few lecturers have met with Ms. Wos to supply help. She sighed when requested what Mr. Wos meant to the village. “You didn’t have the chance to satisfy him,” she mentioned. “He was a person who emanated empathy. He was consistently smiling and at all times variety. Only a actually good particular person.”